MOZART AND THE PRACTICE OF SACRED MUSIC, 1781-91 a ...

“military music” were heard in the Hofkapelle while the ban was in force. 29 An order of
service compiled for the Hofkapelle in 1745, which contains sporadic entries through 1756,
makes no mention of any change in instrumental forces. 30
Maria Theresia continued to implement musical reforms throughout the 1750s. A
few months after the “military instrument” ban took effect in January 1754, the Empress
proposed to her Kapellmeister, Georg von Reutter, a still more restrictive regime, in which
the court church music would be regularly performed “alla romana,” following the
unaccompanied practice of the Sistine Chapel. 31 Reutter, understandably concerned for the
welfare of his musicians, requested that instrumental doubling of the vocal parts be allowed,
and to this Maria Theresia agreed. In practice, the Hofkapelle seems to have maintained this
restriction for an even shorter period than the trumpet ban, although a number of
contemporary works by Reutter do seem tailored to the Imperial request. 32 Of greater long-
term import were Maria Theresia’s efforts in 1755-56 to introduce a German-language
hymn into the liturgy, especially in those churches with modest musical ambitions. 33 While
hymnbooks had been printed in Vienna since the mid-seventeenth century, it was only with
the creation of a favourable Imperial environment for their use that a steady increase in
production occurred, eventually resulting in the official Katholisches Gesangbuch produced at
Maria Theresia’s request during the last decade of her rule.
29 For Reutter, all but Hofer 56 are found in contemporary performance parts from the Hofkapelle (now in A-
Wn). For details of performance dates on these parts, see Hofer, “Die Beiden Reutter”. The original parts for
one of Martínez’s masses is in A-Wstm.
30 A-Wn, Inv. I/Hofmusikkapelle 15. The entries for 1754-56, found scattered throughout the book, concern
minor liturgical details such as the omission of the gradual (f. 30r) during the celebration of Corpus Christi.
31 A-Whh, OMeA Prot. 23, f. 323, 353.
32 These works include a Miserere in B flat for double choir “all’ uso Romana” and a Miserere à 4 voci in A
minor.
33 AVA, A-Cultus 11 Gen. 59/1756; for further references see RGZJ, 472.
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